We arrived at Stratford-Upon-Avon at exactly 2:19 p.m. (only Margaret marked the exact time in her journal). For Margaret, this was, of course, a really big deal. For an English teacher, this is life-changing! We were delighted at the sight of the famous words (bringing Shakespeare to life) displayed on the many businesses and restaurants. We decided to find our hostel first, and, again had some major "adventures" trying to find our way. However, once we got turned around, we found ourselves in a lovely youth hostel just outside of Tiddington. For those of you who don't know how a hostel works, it's pretty simple. You go in and pay, just like a hotel, except they don't suck up to you or charge you an arm and a leg to stay. They ask where you are from and tell you all about the area, where the information booth is, and where the best places are to buy groceries, or the quickest walk to the nearest pub. You go up to your room, and there are always clean sheets which you unfold to make your bed. There are signs everywhere, explaining how to conserve water and how to be considerate. For meals, you go down to a big kitchen and you cook your own meal with provisions from the closest market, making sure to use the color coated cutting board, to label your food, to clean up after yourselves and, the best part, to check out the 'free shelves' for anything that will enhance your own meal. So far, we've found the hostel kitchens to be significantly cleaner than ours at home - something Margaret has vowed to work harder on.

Anyway, we digress. We got squared away and then got dressed up for a night out on the town. First we hitched a ride on the City Sightseeing Tour of Statford-On-Avon. It landed us half a block from Shakespeare's birthplace so we walked down the shop-lined streets until we ended up at the Dirty Duck or the Black Swan, a pub supposedly frequented by the Swan Theatre actors. We got our tickets to Macbeth and spent the rest of the time wandering down the Avon River, checking out the swans who, we warned the kids, could go rabid at any moment; and then entered the Swan Theatre.

MACBETH. What more can we say???? We were blown away, first, by our perfect seats, reserved six months ago (first gallery, first row, center). The "groundlings" sat below on benches (bus tourists) and got spit upon and hit by flying blood during the performance.

Next, the show itself was outstanding. Connor and Tessa claimed they enjoyed the play, although they were thankful Margaret had already explained the storyline to them beforehand (with numerous quotations and historical tidbits) so unlike the four American teenagers behind us, or the 3 beauty queens in the bathroom (blood spattered and outraged), we think they got it. The play was graphic, and dramatic, and wonderful, and we loved it. That night, Margaret said, "The rest of trip is gravy. Stratford was perfect."

July 12, 2007

Day two in Stratford-Upon-Avon found us at Anne Hathaway's Cottage. The kids didn't really understand why we were there, but luckily, we decided to pay the entry fee and enjoyed an outstanding tour by a fellow who told us the whole history of the Hathaways. We learned all about the Tudor period and the way of life during Shakespeare's day. There were many pieces of original furniture and day-to-day objects, but what we enjoyed most was all of the background information about how sayings came to be and how the Hathaways used Shakespeare's fame to keep their finances strong.